81074 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 223 / Tuesday, November 21, 2023 / Notices 

1New Source Performance Standards for 

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, 

and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric 

Generating Units; Emission Guidelines for 

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Existing Fossil 

Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; and Repeal of 

the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, 88 FR 33240 

(proposed May 23, 2023) (to be codified at 40 CFR 

part 60). 

Tracking the Proceeding 

Throughout the proceeding, 

additional information about the project 

will be available from the Commission’s 

Office of External Affairs, at (866) 208– 

FERC, or on the FERC website at 

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link 

as described above. The eLibrary link 

also provides access to the texts of all 

formal documents issued by the 

Commission, such as orders, notices, 

and rulemakings. 

In addition, the Commission offers a 

free service called eSubscription which 

allows you to keep track of all formal 

issuances and submittals in specific 

dockets. This can reduce the amount of 

time you spend researching proceedings 

by automatically providing you with 

notification of these filings, document 

summaries, and direct links to the 

documents. For more information and to 

register, go to www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ 

esubscription.asp. 

Intervention Deadline: 5:00 p.m. 

Eastern Time on December 6, 2023. 

Dated: November 15, 2023. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25710 Filed 11–20–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 14851–003] 

White Pine Waterpower, LLC; Notice of 

Revised Schedule for White Pine 

Pumped Storage Project 

This notice revises the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission’s (Commission) 

schedule for processing White Pine 

Waterpower, LLC’s license application 

for the White Pine Pumped Storage 

Project. A prior notice issued on May 

11, 2023, identified an anticipated 

schedule for issuance of draft and final 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) documents and a final order for 

the project. After the issuance of that 

notice, White Pine Waterpower, LLC 

indicated that it will be conducting a 

hydrogeologic study that provides data 

on local aquifer stratigraphy, 

groundwater elevation, and water 

quality needed to support the design of 

the project’s water supply wellfield. 

White Pine Waterpower, LLC stated that 

it would file the study results by 

‘‘November 2024’’. On October 26, 2023, 

Commission staff issued a letter 

requiring White Pine Waterpower, LLC 

to file the corresponding study results 

with the Bureau of Land Management 

before filing them with the Commission 

by January 31, 2025. To account for the 

additional time needed for White Pine 

Waterpower, LLC to complete the 

studies and file the study results, the 

application will be processed according 

to the following revised schedule. 

Notice of Ready for Environmental 

Analysis: April 14, 2025 

Draft NEPA Document: January 9, 

2026 

Final NEPA Document: July 24, 2026 

In addition, in accordance with Title 

41 of the Fixing America’s Surface 

Transportation Act, enacted on 

December 4, 2015, agencies are to 

publish completion dates for all federal 

environmental reviews and 

authorizations. This notice identifies the 

Commission’s anticipated schedule for 

issuance of the final order for the 

project, which is based on the revised 

issuance date for the final NEPA 

document. Accordingly, we currently 

anticipate issuing a final order for the 

project no later than: 

Issuance of Final Order November 19, 

2026 

If a schedule change becomes 

necessary, an additional notice will be 

provided so that interested parties and 

government agencies are kept informed 

of the project’s progress. 

Dated: November 15, 2023. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–25709 Filed 11–20–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. AD23–9–000] 

Reliability Technical Conference; 

Notice Inviting Post-Technical 

Conference Comments 

On Thursday, November 9, 2023, the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

(Commission) convened its annual 

Commissioner-led Reliability Technical 

Conference to discuss policy issues 

related to the reliability of the BulkPower System, and the impact of the 

Environmental Protection Agency’s 

proposed rule under section 111 of the 

Clean Air Act on electric reliability.1

All interested persons are invited to 

file post-technical conference comments 

to address issues raised during the 

technical conference and identified in 

the Second Supplemental Notice for this 

Technical Conference issued on October 

30, 2023. For reference, the questions 

included in the Second Supplemental 

Notice are included below. Commenters 

need not answer all of the questions, but 

are encouraged to organize responses 

using the numbering and order in the 

below questions. Commenters are also 

invited to reference material previously 

filed in this docket, but are encouraged 

to avoid repetition or replication of their 

previous comments. Comments must be 

submitted on or before 30 days from the 

date of this Notice. 

Comments, identified by docket 

number, may be filed electronically or 

paper-filed. Electronic filing through 

https://www.ferc.gov is preferred. 

Documents must be filed in acceptable 

native applications and print-to-PDF, 

but not in scanned or picture format. 

Instructions are available on the 

Commission’s website: http://

www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. 

Although the Commission strongly 

encourages electronic filing, documents 

may also be paper-filed. To paper-file, 

submissions sent via the U.S. Postal 

Service must be addressed to: Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, Office 

of the Secretary, 888 First Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20426. Submissions 

sent via any other carrier must be 

addressed to: 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 

Office of the Secretary, 12225 Wilkins 

Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

For more information about this 

Notice, please contact: 

Michael Gildea (Technical Information), 

Office of Energy Reliability, (202) 

502–8420, Michael.Gildea@ferc.gov. 

Gonzalo E. Rodriguez (Legal 

Information), Office of the General 

Counsel, (202) 502–8568, 

Gonzalo.Rodriguez@ferc.gov. 

Dated: November 14, 2023. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

Post Technical Conference Questions 

1. State of Bulk Power System 

Reliability With a Focus on the 

Changing Resource Mix and Resource 

Adequacy 

The transformation of the Bulk-Power 

System is resulting in significant 

changes to the nation’s power supply 

portfolio. These changes include 

increased penetrations of inverter-based 

resources, the increased use and 

importance of natural gas generating 

units for system balancing, and the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 223 / Tuesday, November 21, 2023 / Notices 81075 

participation of distributed energy 

resources. Ensuring the adequate supply 

of electric energy to service loads during 

peak hours and during extreme weather 

conditions is also becoming more 

challenging in many regions of North 

America. 

What should the Commission’s top 

reliability priorities be for the next one 

to three years? What are potential 

actions the Commission could take to 

improve reliability regarding these 

priorities? 

(a) What trends and risks identified in 

NERC’s 2023 State of Reliability Report 

and the 2023 ERO Reliability Risk 

Priorities Report warrant the most 

attention and effort? 

(b) Resource adequacy traditionally 

has been characterized in terms of 

planning reserve margin, which assesses 

the excess generating capacity required 

to meet peak load. NERC and industry 

have recently been discussing the 

notion of energy adequacy, which 

assesses whether there is sufficient 

energy—power over time—to meet 

customers’ energy needs. Is energy 

adequacy a more appropriate metric to 

characterize reliability risks given the 

changing grid? 

(c) NERC has highlighted essential 

reliability services (e.g., frequency 

response, voltage control, and ramping 

capability) as core to maintaining 

reliable operation of the grid. How does 

the changing resource mix and 

characteristics of load affect the needed 

amount and provision of these essential 

reliability services? What actions, and 

by whom, are necessary to ensure 

adequate levels of these services? 

(d) The electric grid is undergoing its 

most significant changes in a century. 

How should reliability oversight adapt 

to this change? Is the existing reliability 

oversight model flexible and agile 

enough to help lead the change? 

(e) In recent years, reliance on natural 

gas as a fuel for electric generation has 

steadily increased. At the Commission’s 

recommendation, the North American 

Energy Standards Board (NAESB) held 

forums between August 2022 and July 

2023 to discuss the growing 

interdependence between the natural 

gas and electric sectors. NAESB issued 

recommendations to enhance market 

coordination to address challenges 

posed by this growing interdependence. 

Should the Commission prioritize 

pursuing any specific NAESB 

recommendation? 

(f) Wildfires are no longer considered 

only a California or Western states issue 

for grid reliability, as drought 

conditions are expanding into 

additional regions including MISO, 

ERCOT and SPP creating further 

reliability impacts. What preparations 

have you taken (or are you considering) 

to address emerging wildfire and 

drought reliability risks in your region? 

2. CIP Reliability Standards and the 

Evolving Grid 

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities and 

threats continue to evolve at a pace that 

tests utility cybersecurity programs. 

These quickly evolving threats present a 

challenge when assessing whether 

security controls, including the CIP 

Reliability Standards, adequately 

respond to the latest cyber risks. Most 

utilities and other electric sector 

stakeholders with mature cybersecurity 

programs implement an overarching 

cybersecurity program to oversee all 

aspects of their cybersecurity activities, 

including identification of the assets to 

be protected, staffing, technology 

selection and procurement, and 

compliance with the CIP Reliability 

Standards. However, ongoing and 

anticipated changes to the 

interconnected electric grid, such as the 

shift in the types of energy sources used 

to generate electricity may disrupt cyber 

programs. Utilities are digitizing their 

grids while managing an increasing 

number of grid-connected devices. As a 

consequence, utilities require more 

advanced tools to process and analyze 

large amounts of data for grid planning, 

operations, and security. These changes 

are also leaving uncertainty as to where 

these digital assets will fit into the 

cybersecurity regulatory framework and 

what tools can be used to effectively 

manage them or even what the future 

may bring as cyberattacks continue to 

grow in sophistication. 

(a) Discuss the primary security issues 

facing electric utilities and describe the 

prioritization of resources and 

investment. What are some lessons 

learned and best practices? 

(b) With regard to evolving cyber 

threats, describe how your cybersecurity 

program identifies and responds to such 

conditions. When responding, how do 

you assess the risk posed to your 

systems by the threats? 

(c) Describe the benefits and 

challenges of implementing and 

maintaining a cybersecurity program as 

the resource mix continues to evolve. 

How does this program interact with 

actions to comply with the CIP 

Reliability Standards? How does such a 

program help to identify and prioritize 

security concerns, and what actions are 

taken to address those concerns, 

including the application of best 

practices? 

(d) Describe how supply chain 

security and the use of third-party 

systems, such as cloud services, are 

addressed in your risk assessments and 

implemented in the cybersecurity 

program. What concerns still exist 

related to supply chain and third-party 

systems? 

(e) What additional actions can the 

Commission, NERC, and industry take 

to further protect the grid from security 

threats, both physical and cyber? 

3. Reliability Implications of EPA’s 

Proposed Rule on ‘‘Greenhouse Gas 

Standards and Guidelines for Fossil 

Fuel-Fired Power Plants’’ 

On May 23, 2023, the EPA issued a 

notice of proposed rulemaking under 

section 111 of the Clean Air Act. The 

proposed rule would set New Source 

Performance Standards for new power 

plants that run on fossil gas. 

(a) Will the rule, if implemented as 

proposed, affect electric reliability? In 

what ways? 

(b) What tools and processes should 

the Commission, other federal and state 

agencies, and industry consider in order 

to implement the proposed rule? What 

authority should the Commission and 

other federal and state agencies have in 

order to address potential reliability 

issues that could arise during 

implementation of the proposed rule? 

(c) What existing processes for 

coordination will enable federal and 

state agencies, planning entities, and 

industry stakeholders to share ongoing 

developments relevant to the 

implementation of the proposed rule? 

(d) What specific tools are currently 

available to agencies to consider 

impacts to retail consumers? Are there 

additional tools that should be 

developed to consider these issues? 

[FR Doc. 2023–25672 Filed 11–20–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 5679–041] 

Energy Stream, LLC; Notice of 

Application Accepted for Filing, 

Soliciting Motions To Intervene and 

Protests, Ready for Environmental 

Analysis, and Soliciting Comments, 

Recommendations, Terms and 

Conditions, and Prescriptions 

Take notice that the following 

hydroelectric application has been filed 

with the Commission and is available 

for public inspection. 

a. Type of Application: Subsequent 

Minor License. 

b. Project No.: 5679–041. 

c. Date Filed: July 15, 2022. 


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